Demolition halted temporarily on Friday as a construction company and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission tried to figure out whether the use of drinking water – at the height of a state drought – was properly being used to tamp down dust at the former Candlestick Park. Mark Matthews reports.
Demolition halted temporarily on Friday as a construction company and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission tried to figure out whether the use of drinking water - at the height of a state drought - was properly being used to tamp down dust at the former Candlestick Park.
By Friday afternoon, SFPUC spokesman Tyrone Jue said because of state public health regulations, the use of recycled water is not OK to use for "aerial dust mitigation efforts" at the demolition of Candlestick Park.
"The use of potable water is both authorized and necessary for aerial dust mitigation activities," he said in a statement.
That means Lennar Corp, which is demolishing the 'Stick to pave way for a housing and retail development, was not in the wrong , after the Bay Area News Group first reported on Thursday that the dust work was being doused with drinking water from Hetch Hetchy. A Lennar spokesman said demolition would resume on Monday.
The issue had caught the attention of some water activists who found it wasteful that the construction company was spraying drinking water on dust as California enters its fourth year of drought.
The irony of dust control isn’t lost on Lennar, which was criticized by the nearby Bay View-Hunter’s Point residents, who worried that all the demolition would send up plumes of dust.
In fact, Lennar switched its initial plan to blow up the stadium after residents publicly complained.
